As the Official Beauty Blogger for Lakme Fashion Week, I got a peek at all the backstage action today for the Day 1 shows. The backstage area was a whirlwind of activity with hair, makeup, nails, outfits being done with an army of makeup artists, hair stylists and designer teams. Let me brief you a little bit about how it works.

Makeup in progress – Backstage before Jatin Verma show

[smartads]

There are 4-5 shows scheduled each day and there are 2 Beauty Teams working non-stop backstage to get the models ready for the shows. Team A is being headed by makeup artist Kapil Bhalla and Team B is being headed by makeup artist Clint Fernandes. Each of these teams does the makeup and hair for alternate shows to keep the backstage action smooth and organized.

On Day 1 today, I covered the backstage for the following 5 shows –

Gen Next Show : This is a really great concept at LFW wherein young designers (fresh out of college) are given a chance to showcase their designs on the ramp. This was the opening show of this season and 7 designers had been chosen to show their work. Interestingly, a lot of today’s successful designers like Masaba Gupta, Kallol Dutta (this year’s grand finale designer) had started out with Gen Next in 2007-2008. This show had a lovely makeup of a wash of silver on the eyes and burnt coral lip. More on this later in this post.

Pia Pauro : I loved this one though I couldn’t watch it as there was a makeup event at Lakme Absolute Fab Lab around the same time. This collection was inspired by the Mexican folk art and tribal aboriginal art prints. It was very fresh and almost summery in spirit. I loved the red lips!

Nandita Thirani/Payal Singhal : I loved some of the mirror-work pieces in this show. Also loved the side braid and the head piece! The makeup was kept simple with a black smokey eye and nude lip.

Jatin Verma/Vizyon : Titled Dark Angels, this show had a very wintery feel to it. I liked the use of sequins with the burgundy and navy dresses. The makeup was in keeping with the theme, a black smokey eye with glossy plum lips – not too vampy but with just a bit of mystery.

Ritu Beri : The models backstage in Ritu Beri creations were a sight to behold! This look had a very Victorian feel to it and there was a gorgeous overlay of crochet on the outfits. Each of the models wore a lovely crochet head dress with flowers on it and some had beautiful hats on. The makeup was a very soft black smokey eye with a bright fuchsialip! I loved the makeup!

Makeup and Hair for Each show :

1) Gen Next :

This look was created by Makeup Artist Kapil Bhalla’s Team. The hair do was a sleek pony tail with a puff in the center to add some oomph to it. The makeup consisted of a pale wash of silver on the lips with a burnt coral lip. There was no liner and false lashes were added for a bit of drama. Since the Gen Next show had 7 designers’ creations in the same show, there was little variation in the looks with a just a change of lip color for Asa Kanzingmei’s part (lip color changed to red) and Astha and Sidharth(blue bindis added on the lips for a pop of blue). I think the pale silver eyes -burnt coral lip look was very wearable and simple to create. I wouldn’t normally pair silver with coral but I think it looked quite good.

Models Backstage before Gen Next show

Models Backstage before Gen Next show

Models Backstage before Gen Next show

Gen Next – Silver eyes, coral lips

Gen Next – Silver eyes, coral lips

2) Pia Pauro :

This look was created by Makeup Artist Clint Fernandes’s Team. The look consisted of a soft black smokey eye with matte black eye shadow + false lashes and deep red pout. Despite the richness of the lip color, the look came across really fresh, I guess the summery vibe of the clothes added that to this look! I couldn’t cover the entire backstage action since there was the Makeup Launch event going on simultaneously! Different models sported different hair-do’s in this show, some had on a chic blowdry with soft waves, some had loose sidebuns and some had gorgeous beachycurls. The entire look came together as very summery and breezy.

Black smokey eyes, false lashes – Makeup for Pia Pauro show

Pia Pauro_Lakme Fashion Week

Pia Pauro_Lakme Fashion Week

Pia Pauro_Lakme Fashion Week

Red lips – Pia Pauro

Pia Pauro_Lakme Fashion Week

3) Nandita Thirani/Payal Singhal

The makeup for this show consisted of an intenseblacksmokeyeye with a nudelip. The hair was neatly done in a sidebraid and there was a simple head piece adorning the forehead and crown. Matteblack eyeshadow was used to create this eye and false lashes were added to finish the look. A nudecreamylipcolor completed the look. I’m not a huge fan of very pale lips but I think the smokey eye went really well with the Indian wear.

Kapil Bhalla creating a black smokey eye for Lakme Fashion Week

Models Backstage – Before Payal Singhal show

Models Backstage – Before Payal Singhal show

Models Backstage – Before Payal Singhal show

Payal Singhal – Lakme Fashion Week Winter Festive 2012

Payal Singhal – Lakme Fashion Week Winter Festive 2012

4) Jatin Verma/Vizyon

The theme of this collection was Dark Angels and the makeup for Jatin Verma’s section of the show was a heavy black smokey eye with a sheer plum lip gloss. The hair was once again ironed straight and tied into a sleek high pony tail, minus the puff in the center this time. The makeup was in keeping with the theme of this collection. For the second part of the show showcasing Vizyon, the lip color was changed to a creamy nude shade.

Makeup in progress- backstage at Lakme Fashion Week

Hair Section – Backstage Lakme Fashion week Day 1

Hair Section – Backstage Lakme Fashion week Day 1

Makeup in progress – Backstage before Jatin Verma show

Makeup in progress – Backstage before Jatin Verma show

Makeup in progress – Backstage before Jatin Verma show

Jatin Verma_Lakme Fashion Week Winter

Jatin Verma_Lakme Fashion Week Winter

Vizyon_Lakme Fashion Week Winter

Vizyon_Lakme Fashion Week Winter

5) Ritu Beri

This was my favoritemakeup look for the Day 1! The eyes were kept slightlysmokey with a blackeyeshadow and there was a pop of fuchsia on the lips which looked gorgeous! The hair do was a long sidebraid and a crochet head piece adorned the crown. I think the delicate crochet and the fuchsia lips looked beautiful together!

Models Backstage – Before Ritu Beri show

Models Backstage – Before Ritu Beri show

Models Backstage – Before Ritu Beri show

Ritu Beri – Lakme Fashion Week Winter-Festive 2012

Ritu Beri – Lakme Fashion Week Winter-Festive 2012

Ritu Beri – Lakme Fashion Week Winter-Festive 2012

Ritu Beri – Lakme Fashion Week Winter-Festive 2012

6) Pallavi Jaikishan

I couldn’t catch the backstage action in pics as my camera battery died. The look was beautiful and paired well with the gorgeous bridal wear. The eyes were soft yet defined with a wash of champagneeyeshadow all over lid and black in the outer corner and crease. The lips were softly stained with a berry lip color. The hair was tied back in a sleekbun. The overall look was sophisticated and very graceful.

Pallavi Jaikishan – Lakme Fashion Week Winter festive 2012

Pallavi Jaikishan – Lakme Fashion Week Winter festive 2012

Pallavi Jaikishan – Lakme Fashion Week Winter festive 2012

Pallavi Jaikishan – Lakme Fashion Week Winter festive 2012

Overall Trend Report :

Hair : Sleek, straight hair tied back in chic pony tails were the most dominant look.

Beauty : Smokey eyes! Almost every other show had a black smokey eye. Its easy to create and looks great on the ramp, I can see why its such a favorite!

[note color=”#FFE4C4″]

This was the update from the ramp! Lakme has also unveiled new makeup looks for the day and night featuring Kareena Kapoor. This new collection is called Monochrome and is inspired by the Grand Finale Designers’ creations. The collection has only 1 new product- a 6 lip color travel palette and the other products have been picked out from the existing Absolute collection. [more on this with pics in the next post!]

Since it was my first day, I felt a little overwhelmed by all the activity and buzz and couldn’t capture as much as I wanted to in pics. I was there from morning around 10.30 to evening 8.30. Even in my ‘comfy’ heels, my feet hurt like crazy! There will be more pics from Day 2 now that I’ve got a hang of how things work! The backstage area is always abuzz even though there is a gap of 1-1.5 hours between shows. The green rooms are packed with the beauty teams with one person working on the face makeup and other working on nails, lips and eyes. [/note]

Hair Section – Backstage Lakme Fashion week Day 1

Makeup stations – Backstage before Jatin Verma show

I could not find a suitable place to take a full length picture but I will definitely take one tomorrow. I wore a sleeveless knee length pale pink and black AND dress. I did manage to take a few quick pics of my makeup before I left home. I wore a soft brown smokeyeye (L’oreal Infallible eye shadow -Endless Chocolate), coral pink blush (MAC Fleur power) with a berry lip (Inglot lipstick no. 132).

Brown smokey eyes-Berry lips – My makeup at Lakme Fashion Week Day 1

I hope you liked this post! More backstage action coming up tomorrow!

p.s – This post has already become really image heavy so I’ll be uploading the remaining Ramp show pics on my Facebook page. Do check out my Album HERE.